II. EDINBURGH
1786. Nov. 29. Burns arrives in Edinburgh.
Dec. 9. Henry Mackenzie praises the Kilmarnock Poems in The Lounger.
Dec. 14. William Creech issues subscription bills for the Edinburgh edition of the Poems.
1787. Jan. 13. The Grand Lodge of Scotland toasts Burns as ‘Caledonia’s Bard’.
April 21. Edinburgh Poems published.
April 23. Burns sells his copyright for 100 guineas.
May 5-June 1. Burns tours the Border.
End of May. VOL. I of Scots Musical Museum published.
June 2. Burns receives Meg Cameron’s appeal.
June 8. Burns’s ‘éclatant return to Mauchline’.
End of June. Burns tours West Highlands as far as Inverary.
July 29. Jean Armour ‘in for it again’.
Aug. 2. Burns completes his autobiographical letter to Dr. John Moore.
Aug. 8. Burns returns to Edinburgh.
Aug. 15. Burns freed of Meg Cameron’s writ.
Aug. 25-Sept. 16. Highland tour with William Nicol.
Oct. 4-20. Tour in Stirlingshire.
Oct. Death of poet’s daughter, Jean.
Nov. Burns begins active work for the Museum.
Dec. 4. Burns meets Agnes M’Lehose.
Dec. 7. Burns dislocates his knee.
Dec. 8. The Clarinda correspondence begins.
1788. Jan. 4. Burns’s first visit to Clarinda.
Feb. 13-14. Peak of the Clarinda correspondence: four letters in two days.
Feb. 18. Burns leaves Edinburgh.
Feb. 23. Burns returns to Mauchline; is ‘disgusted’ by Jean.
Feb. 27 (?)-Mar. 2. Burns visits Ellisland with John Tennant.
Mar. 3. Jean bears twin girls, of whom one dies on Mar. 10 and the other on Mar. 22.
c. Mar. 13. Burns returns to Edinburgh.
Mar. 18. Burns signs lease of Ellisland.
Mar. 24. Burns leaves Edinburgh.
Mar. VOL. II of Scots Musical Museum published.
Late April. Burns acknowledges Jean Armour as his wife.
April-May. Burns receives Excise instructions at Mauchline.
III. DUMFRIESSHIRE
1788. June 11. Burns settles at Ellisland.
July 14. Burns’s Excise commission issued.
Nov. 5. Centenary of the ‘Glorious Revolution’.
Nov. Jenny Clow bears Burns a son.
Dec. Jean joins Burns in borrowed quarters at the Isle.
1789. Feb. 16. Burns goes to Edinburgh to close accounts with Creech and to settle Jenny Clow’s suit.
Feb. 28. Burns returns to Ellisland.
Summer. Burns meets Francis Grose.
Aug. 18. Francis Wallace Burns born.
Sept. 1. Burns begins duty as Excise officer.
Nov. Burns ill with ‘malignant squinancy and low fever’.
1790. Jan. 27. Burns’s name placed on list of those eligible for promotion as Examiners and Supervisors.
Feb. VOL. III of Scots Musical Museum published.
July. Burns transferred to Dumfries 3d Division.
July 24. Death of William Burns in London.
Dec. 1. MS. of ‘Tam o’ Shanter’ sent to Grose.
1791. Mar. 31. Anne Park bears Burns a daughter, Elizabeth.
April 9. William Nicol Burns born.
April. ‘Tam o’ Shanter’ published in Grose’s Antiquities of Scotland and in the March Edinburgh Magazine.
June 19-22. Burns in Ayrshire to attend Gilbert’s wedding.
Aug. 25. Auction of crops at Ellisland.
Sept. 10. Formal renunciation of Ellisland lease signed.
Nov. 11. Burns moves into Dumfries.
Nov. 29-Dec. 11. Burns in Edinburgh. Farewell again to Agnes M’Lehose.
1792. Feb. Burns promoted to Dumfries Port Division.
Feb. 29. Capture of schooner Rosamond.
April 10. Burns made honorary member of Royal Company of Archers, Edinburgh.
April 19. Sale of the Rosamond’s carronades.
Aug. VOL. IV of Scots Musical Museum published.
Sept. 16. Burns begins work for Thomson’s Select Collection.
Nov. 13. Burns subscribes for Edinburgh Gazetteer.
Nov. 21. Birth of Elizabeth Riddell Burns.
Mid-Dec. Burns’s last visit to Dunlop House.
Dec. 31. Inquiry into Burns’s loyalty.